If you thought that there were a lot of diet and nutrition trackers, check out the number of activity trackers that are available on the app stores.
When it comes to functionality, exercise monitoring apps give you lots of options on what to track and what to do with the data.
There are literally hundreds of metrics that you can track for almost any physical activity imaginable. How deeply down the rabbit hole you go will depend on your goals and your personality. Here are some things to keep in mind.
- Heart Rate Zones. Your heart rate is probably the easiest metric to track. It can take some time to determine your heart rate zones, but it’s an easy way to monitor your aerobic fitness.
- Resting Heart Rate. Your resting heart rate is loosely associated with your state of cardiovascular health (lower is often related to better fitness). However, there are many reasons for a lower or higher heart rate, so talk with your provider if you have any questions.
- Activity Tracking. Almost all wearables will give you simple measures, such as steps completed, stairs climbed, and so forth—and many will pair with apps. Apple, Garmin, Fitbit, and many others will give you more data than you will probably ever use. But for you data junkies, you’ll never get bored.
- Other Metrics. You can skip this part if you want, but for completeness sake, here are some other things you can measure with activity devices: exercise form, power, cadence, training status, training readiness, as well as oxygen saturation, arrhythmia detection, and specialized sensors for lactate—plus many others. If you’re interested, your coach can steer you to some product options.
